My Trip to New York City
I just returned from a week in New York City, visiting accounts, eating extremely well, and even seeing one show (Jersey Boys – it was quite good). It was my first visit to NYC in about 8 years, and the city had even more life than I remember. Having my lovely husband, Darko Spoljaric, along with me for the week made it even more enjoyable.
Here are some of my foodie highlights from the week:
Tuesday: wine tasting and sustainability presentation at Counter, an organic wine & martini bar and vegetarian bistro. I didn’t get the chance to eat or drink anything because I was presenting, but the appetizers everyone else enjoyed looked quite good! Counter has been open for three years, and I think it’s pretty cool that they are only serving organic and sustainably-made wines.
Tuesday night: dinner at a hip Indian restaurant, Tamarind. I have to admit that I am not sure what all I ate because we didn’t order off the menu. Instead, we entrusted our server to bring us an assortment of appetizers and entrees. He didn’t let us down. Every item was delectable. The tandoori chicken was great. There was even some roasted goat. Each dish had the perfect amount of spice. The table drank lots of Evolution, which was a perfect complement to all the food.
Wednesday night: dinner at trendy Italian hot-spot, A Voce. Again, we didn’t order off the menu. The server brought beautiful antipasto platters (homemade charcuterie), two homemade pasta dishes (mama’s raviolis were to die for), and then braised short-ribs and roasted quail. There were quite a few of us, so we enjoyed some Evolution, Meditrina, Dundee Hills Pinot Noir, and then moved to some Chimney Rock Cabernet.
Thursday lunch: Lunch at Amalia on Thursday was delicious. I had their lamb and chevre flatbread sandwich, which paired perfectly with Meditrina (which they serve by the glass at Amalia!).
Thursday night: dinner at Icon New York, which is in the W – The Court. Chef Michael Wurster and the whole staff really out did themselves. They had prepared a 4-course meal special for us; each course was paired with one of our wines. Chef Wurster said that many of the dishes we enjoyed will be making their way onto the Icon’s list during the spring.
• Nantucket Bay Scallop with Evolution
• Tomato Tart Tatin with Dundee Hills Pinot Noir
• Lamb Duo with Meditrina
• Blood Orange Sorbet with Sauternes (not made by us)
Friday night: dinner at the highly acclaimed Le Bernardin. Scott Nagle ate there several weeks ago and recommended we spend a quiet evening dining there. It’s hard to put words to the 3 hours we spent at Le Bernardin. It was spectacular in every way. The entire evening unfolded before us like a well choreographed show. We did the chef’s tasting menu, and each dish was more and more enthralling. Darko did the wine pairings and each one was creative and worked marvelously with the dishes. Our evening at Le Bernardin was similar to 3-star dining experiences we’ve enjoyed in Europe.
Saturday night: dinner at trendy Aquavit. The bar looked very hip and cool, and we wished we could have returned to enjoy a nightcap. We selected the chef’s tasting menu and Darko did the wine pairings. Sean, the sommelier, did a terrific job selecting interesting wines to pair with each dish. He selected wines that were out of the norm of what one would expect to pair with dishes, which made the evening fun and a bit adventurous. Each course was beautiful presented and delicious. We were a bit rushed (our fault) because we selected the long chef’s tasting menu and had to leave earlier than we would have liked to attend Jersey Boys.
All in all, my trip to NYC was terrific. I plan to be back again next year.
P.S. If you’re looking for our wines (Evolution or Meditrina) in the NYC/NJ area, here are some places that I visited and know carry our wines now:
• Carnegie Spirits Ltd, 849 Seventh Ave, between 54th and 55th Aves, NYC
• Chelsea Wine Cellar, 200 West 21 St, NYC
• Sunrise Cellars, Caldwell, NJ
• Wine Legend, Livingston, NJ
• Cervino’s Wine Cottage, Ridgewood, NJ
• Saddle River Liquors, Upper Saddle River, NJ
• Burke’s Wine & Liquors, Sparta, NJ
• Wine and Spirit World, Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ